This one's different. Brandon flipped it and interviewed me for his series with business owners, so for once I'm the one answering the questions.

We talk about why I took a financial hit to leave and why it was still the right call, the real estate seminar where every speaker had the same divorce story, how lonely the first two years of running your own thing are, and why my goal is a number, not a forever chase.

Plus the health stuff: training, the steps I'm not getting, and why I think everyone needs someone else's hands on them once a month.

For chiros who are working hard and wondering what it's actually costing them.

If you want to work with me, DM me "DAY1" on Instagram @angus.haack and tell me where you're at.

Links

Youtube: https://youtu.be/caG51xd40rs Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angus.haack/ Brandon: https://www.instagram.com/dr.brandon.yang/

In this episode we unpack why, the sunk cost trap, the stages of change the profession is moving through, and what the early warning signs look like if you're starting to suspect your model isn't working the way it used to.

We cover:

• Why the maths of a lean solo practice works but owners can't see it through their own sunk costs
• The stages of change the profession is sitting in right now — and our prediction for when it tips
• The October restructure of the Health and Support Services Act and what it means for practices running employees
• Why associates who are watching this happen are the ones closest to pulling the ripcord
• What auditing your time, energy, and money actually reveals versus what you think it will
• Why margin is the number — not revenue, not volume, not team size
• What you'll see coaching groups do when the shift finally arrives (we're calling it now)
• Where Nathan goes from here and where Angus goes from here

About Nathan Bridger

Nathan graduated in 2013 and has coached and supported over 100 chiropractors since, one on one and in groups. He built a full diary, got hollowed out holding it together, and rebuilt the model from scratch. On his own show he gets specific: running a new patient from the first phone call to the report of findings, building a diary that holds, care plans that make sense to the patient, what your numbers are already telling you, and what it actually costs to open or to hire. Frameworks, not scripts, and no pretending he got it right the first time. For chiropractors who want to do it their own way, from final year to their own practice.

▶️ Watch: youtube.com/@thelaunchchiro 🔗 Everything else: thelaunchmentoring.com/podcast

We cover:

• Why the person doing the most work is almost always the last one to understand what ownership actually costs
• The naivety gap — what associates think they can do and what running a practice actually requires
• Why being able to see patients is not the same as being able to run a business
• The bullshit jobs nobody tells you about until you're doing them alone
• What passive owners versus present owners actually means for the associate experience
• When the frustration is legitimate and when you put yourself in the situation you're complaining about
• How to have the conversation before it becomes a resignation
• Gifting, referrals, and the internal marketing moves that cost a fraction of what you're spending on Facebook
• What a good exit actually looks like when both sides have acted in good faith

We cover:

• Why uni clinic is your first practice and most people waste it
• How to work out where you sit on the spectrum before you waste two years in the wrong place
• Why going regional is probably the fastest skills acquisition available and when it makes sense
• The employee versus facilities lease debate — which one actually suits you and why
• What to do when you realise the model isn't yours but you're already locked in
• The contract conversation nobody has early enough and what it costs when they don't
• Partnership models, buy-in structures, and when solo is still the right answer
• When it's time to go do your own thing and how to know the difference between running away and moving forward

Nathan breaks down why it happens. Hiring before the model is set, contracts that never spell out what both sides actually owe each other, and a break-even that quietly climbs from 50 visits a week to 80 or more once wages, super, payroll tax and admin costs stack up. They get into the real yellow and red flags in an associate relationship, why facilities lease agreements are where the model is heading, and what to actually check before your break-even eats your wage.

For the owner who did everything right and still can't work out where the money went.

Angus and Nathan get into the actual vulnerability, no safety net if you're sick, injured, or having a kid, and why the fix isn't a bigger practice, it's a more adaptable one. Locums, sublease models, reciprocal shifts with another chiro, and running your finances so a season off doesn't sink you. Plus the seasons every chiro goes through, from the two-year grind to the family years to the one where work becomes the fun part again.

For the chiro worried that starting small means staying stuck.v

Aaron joins Angus and Nathan to pull apart the high-volume, multi-associate model and why it's built on a risk most owners refuse to name. Their best associate is one skill-acquisition period away from opening two doors down. They get into buyouts versus file transfer fees, why non-competes fight the way the profession actually grows, and the three models replacing the old percentage split: facilities lease, set-rate employment, and licensing.

For the owner with a full team wondering why the numbers still don't feel like they should.

We get into what your price says about you before anyone walks in, why low volume doesn't automatically mean high fees, rural versus city pricing, grandfathering without wrecking your own margin, and the difference between a front-end offer and your actual offer. A $29 lead isn't the problem. Discounting your own back end is.

For the owner who hasn't touched their prices in three years and knows it.

We cover:

• Why the coaching pyramid is just copies of copies — and how context collapse is ruining business advice in the profession
• The practice you'd hate — location, model, staff, marketing, pricing, all of it
• Why the million dollar practice that everyone celebrates is often the worst possible outcome
• The practice you'd actually want — minimal viable setup, low overhead, high outreach
• What Nathan opened on in week one with zero ads two weeks before COVID lockdown
• Why street frontage is overrated and what actually matters when choosing a space
• Pricing mistakes — why discounting your care plan below your standard visit makes no sense
• The marketing mix — what external versus internal marketing looks like from day one
• Why two years of going hard means you never have to go that hard again

Then we un-rip all of it. How to get over the fear of posting, why imposter syndrome is a good sign, why the haters were never going to book anyway, and the CORE Equation for working out who you're actually talking to.

For the chiro who wants to post but keeps talking themselves out of it.

Twelve adjustments over six weeks isn't a product stack. It's one product pulled into pieces and read back as a list. That's why the marketing runs dry, that's why the ROF feels like a sweat session, and that's why nobody wants to niche.

Nathan and I get into what a real product stack looks like, why the fit-out is part of it, and why sales is just inviting the right person to work with you.

We can both see why it happens now. Most of the time it isn't the profession. It's an overcorrection, a model that was never yours, and an identity welded to being a chiropractor instead of the person who solves the problem.

For the associate who almost quit and couldn't work out why.

We cover:

• Why Doug Heron's $150k number from 2010 is still relevant today
• The stability score — how to know if your practice can actually support an associate before you hire
• The real cost breakdown — wages, super, CA cover, marketing, and everything owners forget to count
• Why looking at what they bring in versus what you pay them is the worst way to measure it
• The associate as CA model — does it actually work?
• Shell structures, facilities leases, and buy-in options — the models nobody talks about
• What associates need to understand about the sunk cost an owner wears before seeing any return
• How to have the pay rise conversation without blowing up the relationship

🎙️ Listen on Podbean: https://theleanpracticepodcast.podbean.com/

📚 Join The Lean Practice community on Skool: https://www.skool.com/influential-chiropractors

What you actually need, what you're probably paying for that you don't, and the three questions to work it out.

Hint: it's a practice so good people say "holy sh*t, how do you do it?".